Dear Hadley,
Today you are nine months old. And what a busy month this has been! You are learning so much so fast, I’m having a hard time keeping track of all your accomplishments. But the big news of the month happened only this afternoon: you are officially crawling.

Crawling was such an exciting milestone, simply because you have been working on it for SO LONG. You’ve had the physical ability for awhile now, but you just didn’t know you could do it. Then you were actually doing it, but I don’t think you even realized it. You would crawl forward a few inches, but would get frustrated (or distracted) and stop to sit down, putting you further back than where you started. So today I saw you going for it and I managed to get out my phone and recorded you crawling across the hall to your sister… and the unicorn pillow pet she was using as bait.

Another thing you mastered this month was learning to use a straw. You are obsessed with water bottles and so it was only a matter of time before you finally figured out how to use one. You started by chewing on my Camelbak and once I realized you were figuring out the bite valve, I bought you your own learn-to-drink-from-a-straw sippy cup. It has a cool feature where a parent can gently squeeze the cup and brings the liquid to the top of the straw so you can taste what is inside. And that was all it took. You sucked on the straw, your eyes got really wide with glee, and that was it. You were hooked.

Another thing that makes you exceptionally happy is reading books with Daddy. Every night after bath time, you two curl up on our bed and read a few books. You get so excited, listening to your Dad reading, and touching all the textures on the pages, you can hardly contain your enthusiasm as he turns each page.

One of the things that has NOT been fun this month is teething. I still cannot see, or even feel, a single tooth, but the symptoms are certainly there. You are biting every thing you can fit in your mouth, drooling all over, and you have even spiked a few unexplained high fevers. I feel so bad when you look up at me with those sad, pleading eyes. Don’t worry, sweet girl, it will all be over soon enough.

Involving your mouth, but with much more entertainment and less pain, is you learned to stick out your tongue. It all started when we were at the Wings and Waves water park. I think you discovered the taste of chlorine on your lips and you kept darting your tongue in and out. But once we were back home (and chlorine free) you did it again while you were eating and discovered you could lick your lips. It was the cutest thing, but as it is hard to feed you with your tongue sticking out, it’s probably not the best skill to practice during meal time.

Speaking of meal time, you use to be our very predictable eater, everything we gave you you simply accepted and gobbled up. But things have changed recently. I’m sure some of it has to do with teething and some of it was the hot weather we have had, but most of it has to do with finger foods. Once you discovered you could actually feed yourself, you are less and less inclined to eat the purees we feed you on a spoon. I’m having to start getting creative with your meals to keep you happy…and fed! But as you are still a champion nurser, there isn’t any risk of you going hungry any time soon!

Aside from the teething frustration and the eating complications, you are such a happy little girl. I just love this age because every little thing is new and exciting. All we have to do is show you something you haven’t seen before and any fussing or crying screeches to a halt as you happily examine the new object. You are so content to explore the world around you and discover every little thing that it brings a smile to my face just thinking about it.

One of your favorite discoveries happened just the other day. You had woken up from your nap, and I could hear you happily chatting away in your crib, so I didn’t come pick you up right away. Then I heard a loud bang and, thinking you had somehow fallen out of your crib, I ran up the stairs to your room only to find you smiling up at me. You were having so much fun you kicked your legs and discovered you could donkey kick the wall of the crib. You kept doing it over and over and you thought it was just the funniest thing ever. In the future, I’d appreciate it if the things you get so much joy out of were things less likely to give your mama a heart attack. Thanks.

As you get bigger and stronger, your Daddy (who is in charge of the nightly bath time) has been letting you and Ana take baths together more and more. This delights you both to no end. There is very little that your sister does that does not just make you shriek with delight. And it goes both way too. It gets to the point where you are both in the tub just giggling and laughing so much I often have to come up and see just what is so funny! I am so happy that you and your sister can share these special times together…and that you occasionally let your father and I just sit back and observe.

Since you have obviously been getting quite the control over your physical abilities, we decided that you were finally ready for your very first Gymboree class. Ana, as a Gymboree “graduate,” was so excited to share it all with you and she didn’t want to miss watching you experience it all for the first time. So Daddy, Ana and I all went with you and it was every bit as amazing as we remembered. I loved watching your eyes light up with each new discovery and seeing you giggle as we sang and danced to the silly songs. I am so happy that we are able to do these fabulous things with you and help you enrich your life in ways that you can’t even begin to imagine yet.

Oh, Hadley, we have been having so much fun together, it’s hard to tie it up with a nice pretty bow. It would take a myriad of ribbons of different textures and colors to even begin to describe all the things that make you so special. All I know is that you are one amazing child and I just love that I am able to stay home with you so I don’t have to miss one single moment of watching you become the person you are going to be. Because I know that you are going to be spectacular.

All my love,
Mama

Dear Hadley,
Yesterday you turned eight months old. As I write this letter, you are currently upstairs taking a nap. Moments ago you looked up at me, gave me a smile that melted my heart, and then closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep. And that pretty much sums you up right now. You are a very easy baby and an incredibly happy child.

You love nothing more than being surrounded by your family. Literally. You love being in the center of everything that is going on. Whenever we are sitting on the couch just hanging out you twist, scoot, and wriggle yourself into the middle so you can be touching as many of us as possible. And from what I’ve witnessed, there isn’t a single person in this family complaining about that! You have such a happy personality that everyone is just drawn to you.

Mobility, or your lack there of, is your biggest irritation at this time. You are trying SO hard to crawl. It’s actually pretty entertaining to watch. First you get into “plank” position…

Then you get up on your knees and rock for a bit…

Then after you have scooted around backwards for a bit, you finally give up in frustration. But don’t worry. You will figure it out eventually and when that time comes, there won’t be anything holding you back!

During the last month we took a little mini vacation up to Seattle and to Great Wolf Lodge. This was your very first time to leave the state! Wahoo for Washington! We had a great time visiting our friends and then playing at the water park. While you typically love water (bath water, drinking water, you aren’t picky) you were more impressed with the wristbands than playing in the water. Having a chew toy literally attached to your body was the best entertainment ever. I’d consider picking up some for every day, if it weren’t for all the drool that came with it.

Over the 4th of July weekend, we visited our family in Seaside and you finally got to meet your Uncle Greg and his family. It took them so long to meet you because they live in Arizona, so we were ecstatic that they came up here to visit. You were very happy to see him because you have a great fondness for big guys with a beard and glasses.

Since you are pretty dedicated to your 8pm bedtime, we opted out of going and watching fireworks this year. But we did do a few of our own at home. You weren’t exactly sure what was going on. There was a lot of noise and smoke and occasionally some pretty lights. All you knew was that your sister was happy, so that made you happy.

The other big news this month is that we recently introduced you to finger foods. This pleased you immensely. We figured since eating came so naturally to you, you would probably do pretty well with some food you could feed yourself. And we could not have been more right. You have been desperately trying to grab food off our plates, with little success, so you were quite shocked when we handed you a teething biscuit. As with everything else you come into contact with these days, it went straight to your mouth. Then your eyes lit up with delight when you realized it was something you could EAT! You sucked, chewed, and gummed it all up, only gagging a couple times, until there was nothing left. Pretty impressive for a first try!

As I’m sure is the case with most younger siblings, you want to be wherever your big sister is, doing whatever she is doing. I can already tell that you two are going to be thick as thieves when you grow up. Ana tells me on a regular basis how much she loves being your big sister and I can tell by the way you light up when she walks in the room that you love being her little sister.

Hadley, I just love you so much. I feel like saying those words is going to start to lose it’s meaning because I can’t help but tell you all the time. There are just so many things I love about you. I love the way you lay your head on my chest when you get tired. I love the way you stretch and stick your little belly out every time I set you on the changing table. I love the way your hair tickles my chin when you sit on my lap. I love the way you lunge forward, like a striking cobra, when you try to grab something. I love the way you wiggle from side to side in your car seat when you get excited. I love the way you laugh and the magical effect it has on our entire family. I love the way you rest your hand on my face when you look into my eyes. And these are just a few of the things I love about you. I could go on and on listing all the little things you do that make you amazing and special and absolutely perfect in every way, but that’s what the rest of our lives are for. I will spend every moment loving you and all that you are with all of my heart.

All my love,
Mama